Danish citizen panel advises on pig farming without visiting a farm

A Danish citizen panel advising the minister on future pig farming has recommended that pigs be given more space and a natural life, while warning that current legislation is too unclear. DR reported that most panel members had not visited a pig farm while preparing the recommendations.

Eight members of the 36-person Citizen Panel on Animal Welfare presented the recommendations at Christiansborg, the seat of Denmark’s parliament, to Minister for Nature and Animal Welfare Christian Rabjerg Madsen and members of parliament.

“It was a fantastic experience. The politicians praised us greatly. We hope it gives them a direction for the four-party agreement on pigs,” said Gunnar Sigaard, a retired former primary school teacher from North Jutland who is a member of the panel.

The panel was established under an animal welfare agreement from February 2024. Statistics Denmark selected its members at random, with the aim of representing the population in terms of age, gender and geographical location.

Its purpose is to give ordinary citizens a voice in work on the future of animal welfare. The panel’s recommendations are intended to be included as far as possible in preparations for the forthcoming four-party agreement on pigs.

Panel calls for more sustainable farming

The panel wrote in its report that Denmark could not continue with its current form of pig production.

Sigaard said the recommendations were broad and not directly realistic, but argued that visions were necessary to determine the direction of future policy.

He grew up on an organic farm and said he felt a sense of guilt about the state of agriculture today.

“It is embarrassing that my generation has allowed this to happen. We simply cannot accept it. I hope my grandchildren will be prouder to live in Denmark when we have improved agriculture,” he said.

The panel’s report focuses partly on what it describes as pigs suffering from poor wellbeing and stress. It argues that the industry should be organised around the pigs’ mental welfare.

Farmers’ group questions panel’s knowledge

Jeppe Bloch, chairman of the Danish Association of Pig Producers, questioned the recommendations and the panel’s knowledge of actual pig production.

Bloch took part as an expert in a question-and-answer session held over Teams. He said the panel had not taken his views on board.

“They did not listen at all to what I said,” he said.

Bloch also criticised the recommendations as unrealistic. He had invited the panel to visit his farm and offered to pay for the bus, but said the invitation was declined.

He said farmers could improve their practices, but that improvements were already taking place on an ongoing basis. In his view, the criticism was therefore unjustified, and the recommendations “sound like something copied from the political programme of the Danish Society for the Protection of Animals”.

Sigaard confirmed that the panel had not visited a pig farmer as part of its official work. Members had watched videos of other people visiting conventional pig farms.

Separately from the panel’s planned meetings, Sigaard and one other member visited two farms on their own initiative, one organic and one conventional.

“But we are the only ones from the panel who have visited a pig farmer,” Sigaard said. He attributed the difficulty of including such a visit in the programme to financial and planning considerations.